The Benue State House of Assembly has clarified the circumstances surrounding the resignation of its Speaker, Aondona Dajoh.

The assembly has said the decision was a matter of personal principle and not the result of any pressure from Governor Hyacinth Alia.

Dajoh resigned his position abruptly on Sunday afternoon. Within hours, Hon. Alfred Berger Ermberga, a lawmaker who had only days earlier been suspended over an alleged plot to remove him, was sworn in as the new Speaker.

Addressing the development on Channels Television’s The Morning Brief programme, Assembly spokesperson Elias Audu dismissed speculations linking Governor Alia to the leadership change.

He maintained that the Benue legislature operates independently.

“If the governor had an interest, whatever it is, it is not within the knowledge of the Assembly. The Speaker was doing his job, and after some time, maybe because of certain decisions, he thanked the people for their support, and now he said it is time to go. I’m convinced that the Speaker resigned based on personal principle. We are in a political dispensation; we are playing politics, but if there are political undertones, there is no fighting in the Benue Assembly. Because the members are independent-minded, you can’t coerce them,” Audu said.

He further described the resignation as a collective will of the House, stressing that the proceedings were peaceful and without crisis.

“The immediate past Speaker, Aondona Dajoh, voluntarily resigned. He came, he saw, he conquered, he did his best for the peace and development of the state. When he said this is the time to quit, we said one of our colleagues should step in, and that was why yesterday the House unanimously voted Honourable Berger Ermberga in a peaceful atmosphere,” Audu added.

The spokesman also restated the Assembly’s resolve to safeguard the principle of separation of powers.

“The other time the governor sent nominees, we turned down the nominee. Most of the policies the governor wants to do, if we think it is not in the interest of the people, we will tell him. Since the inauguration of the House in 2023, the House has been at peace. However, in politics, there are different interests,” he said.

As reported earlier, Lagos-based journalist and former spokesman to the Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, Ismail Omipidan, provided a different perspective.

Writing in a commentary titled “Benue House: Why Speaker Dajoh Was Removed”, Omipidan argued that Dajoh’s resignation was linked to his handling of the House session that rejected the nomination of Professor Yangien Ornguga as Commissioner.

“The former Speaker, Aondona Dajoh, was courageous in carrying out the screening of nominees for the position of commissioners last week. But I knew the rejection of the younger brother of the Tor Tiv, an Associate Professor of Law, Yangien Ornguga, would trigger crisis,” Omipidan wrote.

He said that Ornguga, a lecturer at Benue State University, Makurdi, is the younger brother of the Tor Tiv, Professor James Ortese Iorzua Ayatse, the paramount traditional ruler of the Tiv people, who maintains a close relationship with Governor Alia.

According to Omipidan, the governor reportedly gave the Tor Tiv a slot in his cabinet, which led to Ornguga’s nomination.